On Wednesday, Oct. 29, five men were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release for the fatal shooting of a 4-year-old child in Florida.
Zvante Sampson, Quandarious Hammond, Jaylin Bedward, Andrew Thompson, and James Denson were convicted in September of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and shooting at or within a vehicle in Suni Bell’s death.
“This is what happens when you make stupid decisions without thinking things through. “Acting and reacting without knowing what’s going to happen on the other side,” Judge Robin Fuson stated during sentence, according to WTSP. “Well, the other side for you five is the rest of your lives in prison with no chance of parole.”
Suni was in the family’s silver Infiniti with her mother and uncle when the incident occurred on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa on September 17, 2021, evening. Prosecutors said security footage from a nearby gas station showed the five guys watching the Infiniti before getting into separate cars and pursuing it. Suni, who was in the backseat, was struck by one of the several bullets fired at the vehicle.
“They were on their way to a family gathering and couldn’t find the address, so they pulled over to call family,” Erin Maloney, Communications Director for the Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit, tells PEOPLE. “The argument was that the men mistaken Suni’s family for someone driving a similar vehicle. Surveillance footage shows the men conspiring with each other before arming themselves and tracking down the vehicle to commit the shooting.”
“Suni’s mother testified on the stand that she just kept saying, ‘Mommy’ as gunshots rang out,” according to Maloney.
Her mother and uncle were unharmed. Suni died in the local hospital.
Prosecutors contended that, while not all five individuals fired a firearm, they were all guilty of murder under Florida’s primary theory of prosecution.
“Our prosecutors proved that each of the defendants played an active role in planning and carrying out this deadly ambush,” the Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial District stated in a press release following the men’s convictions. “As a result, all five men will be held equally accountable for Suni’s death.”
“This hurts,” Suni’s grandma Drial Harrison said at the sentencing, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “This hurts deeply. It is not something that can be treated with a Band-Aid.”
“Suni’s family said she had just started Pre-K and was so excited about getting her first backpack and starting school,” Maloney says. “Weeks later, she was gone.”
